A review of capital procurement in the UK National Health Service

摘要

The National Health Service is one of the most complex organizations in Europe and is one of the largest clients of the UK construction industry. The estate on which healthcare services are produced is vast, with a current market value of £23 billion. Despite this level of investment, procurement in the NHS has come under criticism. On the backdrop of long-term major investment planned for the NHS, this paper presents a critical review of current procurement practices. Existing procedures are identified as being fragmented, with very little expertise shared across NHS Trusts, and having led to a large number of suppliers and a diluting of procurement expertise. Procurement is extremely time consuming and often demands that staff with skills in operational health care management are deflected from their main duty. Furthermore, because of the fragmentation and independence that exists across the numerous Trusts, each project requires a unique and time consuming design and opportunities for employing standard and or prefabricated solutions are not realised. National and local NHS guidelines only serve to compound this fragmentation and are unequivocal in their support of competitive tendering procedures.